Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) Short Interest Down 17.9% in March

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 413,100 shares, a drop of 17.9% from the March 15th total of 503,100 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 203,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barrington Research raised their target price on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th.

Insider Activity at Grand Canyon Education

In related news, CTO Dilek Marsh sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.65, for a total value of $198,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 25,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,405,656.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BTC Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Grand Canyon Education during the first quarter worth approximately $393,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 11.2% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 456,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,226,000 after purchasing an additional 46,024 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 2.2% during the first quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 307,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,933,000 after purchasing an additional 6,774 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Grand Canyon Education during the fourth quarter worth approximately $657,000. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Grand Canyon Education during the fourth quarter worth approximately $212,000. 94.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Grand Canyon Education Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of LOPE stock opened at $130.70 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $132.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $130.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.59. Grand Canyon Education has a 12-month low of $99.65 and a 12-month high of $144.94.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $278.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.00 million. Grand Canyon Education had a net margin of 21.33% and a return on equity of 31.75%. As a group, research analysts expect that Grand Canyon Education will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

About Grand Canyon Education

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides education services to colleges and universities in the United States. It offers technology services, including learning management system, internal administration, infrastructure, and support services; academic services, such as program and curriculum, faculty and related training and development, class scheduling, and skills and simulation lab sites; and counseling services and support services comprising admission, financial aid, and field experience and other counseling services.